1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a support rollers for a sectional door and, more particularly, to a novel shield apparatus and support track and method for shielding the support roller from a finger being inserted between the support roller and the support track in which the support roller operates; the support track is also selectively modified to provide additional safety features.
2. The Prior Art
Sectional doors are commonly referred to as garage doors and, as their common name implies, are used as the closure for the opening to a garage. The sectional door consists of a plurality of door sections hingedly joined in an edge-to-edge relationship to form the completed sectional door. The ends of each door section are supported upon support rollers which are, in turn, confined to support tracks mounted adjacent the opening to the garage. Each support track has a vertical section and a horizontal section with a curved section providing the transition between the vertical and horizontal sections. The vertical section of track supports the sectional door in its vertical or closed position across the opening while the horizontal section supports the sectional door in its overhead or open position. The hinges between the door sections allow the sectional door to traverse the curved section of track between the vertical and horizontal orientations.
The support track is fabricated from a strip of sheet metal that has been formed with a generally J-shaped cross section so that the support roller is constrained by the curved portion of the J-shape. The axle of the support roller extends outwardly and is anchored to the adjacent door section. The upper end of the J-shaped cross section is formed as a flange extending orthogonally from the leg of the J-shape to provide the support track with an overall cross sectional profile that is a modified, C-shaped profile. The curve of the J-shape supports the roller while the flange prevents the roller from jumping the track. Dimensionally, the length of the J-shape is about 5 or 6 centimeters while the width of the curved portion of the J-shape is about 3 centimeters. The flange is about 3.5 centimeters.
Since the primary use of a sectional door is in a residential garage, that means that it is inherently present in an environment containing children. Unfortunately, the natural curiosity of a child coupled with an inherent tendency for the child to be easily distracted so as to fail to pay proper attention has resulted in serious injury to the fingers of the child. In particular, most residential sectional doors are provided with an electrically driven opener to move the sectional door between its open and closed positions. Children have been known to insert one or more fingers into the interior of the J-shaped track during movement of the sectional door with the result that one of the support rollers has either severely crushed or amputated the fingers. Further, the support roller has a diameter of about 5 centimeters which means that angular opening between the periphery of the support roller and the support track is sufficient to receive a child's finger. The tragic result is that the continued rolling movement of the support roller actually tends to "pull" the rest of the finger under the support roller. Further, even if one were to place some form of moving barrier in front of the support roller, the movement of a finger across the adjacent, exposed edge of the support track will result in the finger being cut by the exposed edge of the support track.
In view of the foregoing it would be an advancement in the art to provide a shield apparatus for shielding a support roller from the insertion of a finger between the support roller and the support track. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a support roller with a shield that brushes fingers aside to keep the finger from engaging the support roller. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a support track having a hem on the edge of the support track to eliminate cuts as the roller shield pushes the finger aside. Such a novel invention is disclosed and claimed herein.